The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-01-28
-HE TARIFF AND TIE PRIMER.


This country seemed iatended by
its natural advantages as the haven
of the agricuturists. It's rich soil,
III temperate climate, its changing
seasons, its adaptability to all kinds
Of crops, its abundance of natural
grasses, all seemed 10 invite the
farmer of all lands 10 its congenial
soil, and to promise him a rich re-
ward for his labor. Under the ma
tura c nditions and the inst and
equal laws Of our fathers, agriculture
prospered, and before the burden
Of an oppressive tariff taxation bore
down upon it, farming was the most
independent Of our occupations and
agriculture the weallhIest of our ia
dustries. But under twenty-five
years of a heavy and unjust protec-
tive systom created to foster manu-
facturers and monopolists, agriculture
has become one of the weakest of
our industries and the lot of the far
mer the poorest Of our people. Lands
have decreased in value, farm plo-
ducts ceased to be renumerative
and the industry which God had
created as the chief promoter of our
happiness and the basis of our wealth
almost ruined, because protection
must be paid for. DOES any one
know Of a way Of producing wealth
except by the application of labor
and capital to land? There is no
other, and an industry that is built
up by taxation on them, is the gIeat
est Of ali burdens, because, while it
is born by the greatest number of
people, benefits only few.
If one dollar come into the pocket
Of the manufacturer Through the
law of protection that would not
have come otherwise; it must be
taken from the labor Of some other
individual, and II it is true that
our manufacturing industries can
not live without tariff taxation then
the manufacturer IS not supporting
himself, but living off the rest of the
country, and the large industries
that he boasts to have built up, are
a gift received under oppressive
laws, from others.
The farmer while he pays to the
manufacturer a tax of from 25 to
$50 per cent on wearing apparel,
tools and every thing used in pro-
ducing his crops, yet when he comes
to sell the products Of his labor has
to be governed by the prices Of a
European market, and sell to those
manufacturers bis products at from
% to so per cent. less than they are
worth. For example, a farmer who
raises cotton, is compelled under
the protective system to buy every
tool used in its eultiYation and all
the wearing apparel and other uec-
/ celsarIes of his family, from home
manufacturers 1T from so to $50
per cent. more than the same can
be bought from English manufacture
eis, yet when he comes to sell his
cotton to home manufacturer in
stead Of they giving him more for
his cotton than the Englishman, the
manufacturer looks at Liverpool
quotations and gives him less.
This system will as certainly sink
the farmer as the sun sets, and his
condition today, as bad as it is, is
far better than it will be a few years
hence If the present tariff is main
tanned.
/ The disastrous and pinching effect
Of the present protective system can
every where be seen among the
T farmers Of the West and South.
+ Ground down between the competi-
/ ton of Russia rnd India on grain
and cotton, and the high tariff tc
support our home manufacturers,
they are living on mortgaged farms
harassed by debt, and their aons are
lea ying their country homes for the
more favored vocahons of the city.
The present tariff is impracticable
/ because of its injustice, and the sur,
plus that It every day creates Is q
growing menace toa free govern
ment, and tee sooner Congress aevise'
i the better 1t wild be for the pros
peutY Of the whole country.
Every true American should fight
the present system of National tax
alton until our revenues are placed
upon the basis OF supporting the
/ Goqernment economically admins
tere Z, and until every man shall
have the right to exchange the pro-
/ ducts OF his labor where he can get
the most benefits for himself.
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Err, MOMENTS BILL